Bachelor Pad Economics (Book Review)

what you’ll learn: how to excel in all aspects of life as a guy in the US

Why You Must Read It

The first thing I saw on Aaron Clarey’s site, Captain Capitalism, was “ENJOY THE DECLINE,” (in all its capitalized glory) with a picture of nature on top. Ok … did I stumble across the site of some apocalyptic nutjob?

If I wasn’t bored out of my mind in the hospital, I would not have given his words a second look. However, I was bored out of my mind. Some guy was droning about diabetic neuropathy. I mentally checked out, turned on my smart phone, and began reading the ramblings of a madman. (I actually enjoyed my clerkship at the crazy, psychiatry ward. Insane people tell the best stories. Sometimes, I could not help but burst out laughing.)

I’m glad I kept reading. This “apocalyptic nutjob” actually makes sense. His arguments are rational. His stories are entertaining, and reflected my own personal experiences. As I read more and more, the good captain pulls back the veils of lies and reveals what is really going on in the US.

If you’re like most guys …

You’ve done everything you’re told. You followed rules. You did everything that was expected of you.

You went to school and got good grades.

You took out a humongous loan to go to college.

You treated girls with gentleness and respect, because that is how a gentleman behaves.

You gave your wife whatever you wanted, because you wanted to be a good husband.

But you’ve gotten nowhere. It seems as if the world conspires against you.

You could not find a good-paying job. The best job you can find only pays you $10 / hour, and requires the skills of a monkey.

You don’t even make enough pay back the interest on your school loan.

All the girls you’ve ever liked see you only as a friend. They cry on your shoulders about how bad their love life is and how they wish they can find a good guy. (You may be good, but they don’t see you as a guy.)

No matter what you do for your wife, she is unhappy. You thought marriage would bring you someone you can share your life with. But instead, all you got was someone who would nag until you retreated to solitude.

Why is this happening? You’ve done all that you’re supposed to do. And the rewards just don’t match up. Is there something wrong with you?

You will find the answers in his latest book, Bachelor Pad Economics – The Financial Advice Bible for Men, a collection of truths distilled into 500+ pages. Although Clarey calls it a financial advice bible, it is more of a survival advice bible.

The book’s objective is to help man make the right choices — choices based on reality — in all aspects of his life. Therefore, it is an ambitious book and covers a wide variety of subjects, from education to money to girls to economics. (See the table of contents below for more details.)

For almost all aspects of a man’s life, the right choices are quite different from what society tells you what you should do. Essentially, Clarey teaches you how to think and act differently. If you wanna be like all the other guys out there, with a dead-end job and a broken family, then do what society tells you to. But if you wanna be your best version of The Most Interesting Man in the World, then you gotta do what other men don’t.

I blazed through the book in 5 days. (It was that good.) And I agree with 95% of the contents. In no point did I ever think: Wow, this is stupid advice. Rather, I highlighted this book more than most books I have read.

Personally, I learned the most from the economics chapter. I now fully see where the author is coming from when he tells me to “enjoy the decline.” The US is declining. Like all empires, there will be a time when it falls.

Bachelor Pad Economics lacked one main lesson — the epitome of economics 101: the law of supply and demand. He alluded to it in the education chapter, explaining why you should get a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) degree rather than a liberal arts degree. He also alluded to it in the girls chapter, explaining why you should work out and ride motorcycles. But he doesn’t explain the law.

Essentially, the law of supply and demand means that when demand rises or when supply falls, the price will go up. (High price doesn’t necessarily mean more money. It basically means you can get more of what you want.)

Because there is a higher demand for graduates in engineering than graduates in women’s studies …

Because there are less graduates in engineering than graduates in women’s studies …

Those majoring in engineering will earn more money than those majoring in women’s studies.

Because there is a higher demand for in-shape guys than out-of-shape guys …

Because there are less in-shape guys than out-of-shape guys …

Those who hit the gym and watch what they eat will get more interest from girls.

As you can see, the law of supply and demand applies for pretty much anything. Power. Money. Women. If you can somehow increase your demand, while reducing your competition, you will do quite well in any field.

So, you ask, “Should I get this book?”

I’ll answer your question with another question: Are you a guy?

If yes, you need to read it. If you follow its advice, you will do better than 90% of the guys out there. I guarantee it. (And if you’re a girl and can appreciate rational thought, you should read it too.)

Table of Contents

1 – Leaderless, Guideless, and Adrift

2 – Philosophy

3 – The Basics

4 – Education

5 – Career

6 – Entrepreneurship

7 – Girls

8 – Housing and Lodging

9 – Cars and Transportation

10 – Maintenance and Repair

11 – Investing and Retirement

12 – Wife and Kids

13 – Legal

14 – Economics

15 – End of Life Planning

Choice Excerpt

The Corporate Man

Though the introduction excoriated the idea of becoming a traditional, reliable, company man, many people will actually thrive and succeed in this environment. Additionally, as it just so happens, most people will have to work in corporate America at least once in their lives either to make ends meet, build up capital and money to start a business, return to school, etc. So whether you want to make corporate America your permanent home or are using it as a temporary stop gap measure, a more thorough review of the “corporate career” and how to navigate it is warranted.

Understand when you enter a corporate or “traditional” working environment you are sacrificing individuality, freedom, happiness, excellence, and capacity for security and stability. As mentioned before you will never reach your full potential, but you will have that steady reliable paycheck. You will never be challenged, but the job will likely be there tomorrow. You may not be able to spend time with your family, but the health benefits are killer. The reason this system works (and the accounts for the majority of employment in the country) is because it is efficient on the company level. Everybody working together at the direction and desire of the corporation, as a group, achieve greater things than the individual. In short, it is like working for the “Borg” where the collective is more important than the individual.

Because of this the most valuable trait an employee can have is CONFORMITY, nothing else. It doesn’t matter if you know of a better way to do things. It doesn’t matter if you know the current way of doing things is wrong. It doesn’t matter if you’ve identified a spectacular opportunity that would make the company billions or a horrific threat that is sure to bankrupt the company. Unless you are the CEO, the single largest contribution you can make to the collective is obedience.

Once you understand this you can at minimum survive in a corporate environment and (if you choose to) excel. You shed whatever opinions you might have and conform. You shed whatever morality you might have and comply. You be a good little boy, do what you’re told, don’t ask any questions and in two or three decades time you might get promoted.

However, there are HUGE and multiple drawbacks to this kind of corporate culture and mass compliant psychology. Drawbacks that will test your sanity, ruin your family and social life, risk turning you into a sociopath, and sometimes result in you losing your job. And even though you may be able to psychologically separate yourself from your job, over the course of decades it will still affect you.

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Comments

A man should never rely on anyone but himself and to do this he absolutely must have self-discipline. There is no safety in relying on others for your security. No one in this whole world is more concerned about your well-being than yourself.

I wish I had more to add, but the truth is…I don’t. The above advice is all one really needs.

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[…] years of service, but it is no longer required. Here is your gold watch and severance pay.”In Bachelor Pad Economics, Clarey wrote about how employers wanted the password to your Facebook account before hiring you. […]